


Shiver

by tonysbruce



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Canon, F/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pepperony Week, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-10
Updated: 2016-07-10
Packaged: 2018-07-22 05:13:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7421344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonysbruce/pseuds/tonysbruce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"Tell me you never think about that night."</i>
</p><p>In which Pepper isn't alone for the rest of that night on the rooftop, and Tony actually shows up with that vodka martini... with at least three olives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shiver

**Author's Note:**

> Pepperony Week!!! is back!!!! I'm so excited!!!!
> 
> This is my fic for day one, for which the theme is Favorite Scene/Movie Appearance. I mean, every pepperony scene to ever exist is my favorite, but this is the one I ended up with because they're such cute lil babies in IM1 and we all know what we really wanted to happen on that rooftop. (i mean technically it DID happen) (lookin @ u marvel release that footage pls)
> 
> Also: I realize that not all of the dialogue is exactly what's said in the film; that's partly because I reworked it a little to make the fic flow, but mostly because I couldn't be bothered to go back and rewatch the film to make it perfect oops sorry.
> 
> Hope you enjoy xoxo

It isn't cold that night, but Pepper is still shivering. 

There isn't anything in her hands to distract her or put an obstacle between her and the man standing only a few too close, too uncomfortable inches away from her, so she clasps them in front of her in a childish attempt to keep her distance. He's already invading her personal space, which isn't necessarily anything new, but the terrifying part is that this time she doesn't _mind_. 

Another shiver goes down her bare spine. 

She probably should have gotten some air alone. 

"This is weird," she manages to say, finally, when for some reason her throat doesn't feel so parched. She can think of something else that could probably make her mouth water, but the thought subconsciously pushes her closer to Tony's lips and she silently curses herself again. 

"What are you talking about?" Tony asks, "come on. It's us."

Pepper wishes he hadn't said that. _It's us_ , he says, and of course _it's us_ because it's always fucking _us_ and Pepper doesn't know how she's controlled herself for so long. It was easier before, when she was just another face in a sea of bumbling, busty PAs, before he was Iron Man, before she was attached. Now it's _them._ Tony and Pepper. Pepper and Tony. One name almost just can't come without the other, and it's so _stupid_ because they aren't even a _thing_. 

Well, not yet. Probably not ever. They shouldn't be. They can't. 

"We shouldn't be up here," she says, trying to convince herself more than the disgustingly casual man before her. "People are going to think things, you know, because we were dancing, and now we're up here, and everyone knows how you are with girls, and..."

"And?" Tony raises his eyebrows. Pepper can't tell if the confusion is real or deliberate. 

"And..." She sighs, and looks up to meet his eyes that she'd been avoiding. His eyes that are so wide and deep like a calculating, bronzy abyss, and God, they're so beautiful. Pepper regrets the decision as she swallows thickly and tries to get her voice back. "And I'm in this ridiculous dress... and..."

Tony tilts his head just slightly, and the way his eyes twinkle as the corner of his mouth curves into a smirk finally convinces Pepper that continuing to try to save face is useless. He knows. He has to know. Hell, he's probably known for the past few years, since Pepper is struck with the realization that her fair skin and occasional motor mouth are no winning combination for hiding just how desperately, hopelessly _in love_ with him she is. The thought makes her stomach twist, and for a moment she thinks she might be sick. 

Surprisingly, the moment of near-nausea passes quickly, and is instead replaced by a fire that sparks in deep in her gut and slowly licks upwards, curls around her heart, and finally settles as a billowing, smoky cloud in her skull. It fills up all the cracks and whisks away all the doubts in her judgment, and before she can get a hold of herself to really think it through, she's stepping forward, reaching towards him, and her hands latch onto his arms as her lips find a place just barely an inch from his. 

She can feel his hot breath against her lips, and she closes her eyes as she waits for the pressure of his hands on her waist and his inevitably soft and tender lips against hers. She knows how much she wants this, and by default, he has to want it, too--he's still standing there, after all, too warm and too close. Pepper keeps telling herself that as she continues waiting, because for some reason she's too afraid to close the distance by herself, but when she decides to crack her eyes open again she remembers why she was hesitating in the first place. 

Tony was still there, still too close and still breathing her air, but his eyes are wide and he's looking at her like she's just drop-kicked a kitten. Maybe she had. Maybe that would be less surprising. 

Her mouth is drier than it was previously, and swallowing almost hurts around the horror and embarrassment of what she'd just done, so, stupidly, she thinks that trying to speak might be easier. "I think I..." It isn't. She swallows thickly again. "I think I need a drink."

Tony mumbles something incoherent in agreement, and he shakes his head a little as he takes a much-needed step back. Pepper's breath doesn't quite come back to her when he does, but at the very least she feels a little less trapped. "Yeah," he says, and the slight rasp in his voice almost makes Pepper go weak in the knees all over again. "Me too. What do you, uh—”

"Vodka martini," Pepper says automatically, and Tony tilts his head like he should have known after all these years. "With olives. Lots of olives. Like, at least three olives."

Tony pauses before he gives a curt nod, and Pepper can't even be embarrassed about just how badly she needs that drink right now. She sees him saunter off with his hands shoved deep in his pockets until he reaches the door back into the gala, and as if on cue, she watches him plaster that toothy smile back on his face as he opens the door and submerges himself back into his ostentatious public persona. 

As she watches him transform like a chameleon, Pepper realizes that she honestly isn't sure which version of him she's fallen in love with; the sleek, smooth-talking playboy, the haphazard, sleep-deprived genius, or the gentle, soft-hearted man she's often found by his lonesome in the early hours of the morning.

Upon further examination, she realizes that it's all of him. Tony Stark is, by figurative definition, a hurricane, a chameleon, a freak of nature. And she's fallen for it, _hard_.

Pepper exhales a shaky breath and places her hands on the balcony railing, squeezing the cool metal between her fingers in an attempt to ground herself again while she weighs her options. There are stairs just inside the door, and she considers slipping inside and downstairs to get the hell out of here without a trace. With any luck nobody would notice her absence, and given that Tony's been gone for about fifteen minutes now, he might just get drunk enough to not remember that anything happened. (Honestly, she's never wished for one of Tony's drunken blackouts more than she is right now. She wants to feel bad about it, but she can't.)

Another ten minutes pass, and Pepper finally decides that it's probably better to just get out of here than risk even more embarrassment. It's one thing to get rejected by your boss; it's another to get stood up by him on the balcony at a very high-profile gala while wearing a backless dress and waiting for said boss to bring you a glass of hard liquor. 

God, this was a mess. 

After another careful breath of fresh air, which was the whole reason she even came out here anyway, Pepper turns towards the sliding glass doors and attempts to compose herself. She straightens her spine and smooths her dress, and focuses only on the sharp clicks of her heels against the balcony as she walks back towards the building. The staccato strikes are just distracting enough to overpower her thoughts until she can get back into the bustling crowd inside, but she knocks into someone just as she's opening the door. 

"Oh," Pepper stammers, shaking it off and plastering a fake smile on her face for whoever it is, "I'm sorry, I—”

"Ditching me already, Potts?" She looks up, and her throat immediately runs dry when she realizes its Tony. "Didn't think you'd be running off so soon with that send-off you gave me."

He presses a glass into her hand, and she feels a spark where his skin brushes hers before he pushes past her towards the balcony railing again. Pepper looks down into the glass, counts four olives, and stifles a dry laugh. 

"If anyone is doing the ditching here, I don't think it's me," she replies, and her legs aren't exactly in sync with her mind when they decide to walk back towards him again. Thankfully, they stop her about a foot away from Tony, and she takes a sip from her glass, relishing the faint burn the alcohol leaves in her throat. 

Tony makes a sound that registers vaguely as a snort, and he downs some of his scotch before he tosses a glance in Pepper's direction. "Came back, didn't I?"

 _A decision made in hindsight, I'm sure_. "Does it really take half an hour to get a couple drinks?"

"It was busy."

"You're Tony Stark." 

"Exactly." He turns his head and gives her that knowing, winning smile of his, the one that always makes Pepper realize that the details probably aren't something she wants. She takes the hint and blinks before she sips from her glass again, supposing she was comfortable enough to let the alcohol drive the rest of the evening. 

The air hangs heavily between them for the next few beats of almost awkward silence, and Pepper begins to feel that it probably would have been better if Tony just ditched and left her there. Either option is still humiliating, but at least she got a drink out of it this way; a drink she needily sips again before she considers opening her mouth to hopefully say something about getting the hell out of here since it's late or she has an early morning or some other bullshit excuse that Tony probably won't believe. She turns towards him a little, and takes a breath before Tony beats her to the punch. 

"You know," he starts, and Pepper wants to roll her eyes, because _no_ , she really doesn't know anything about this. Or him, evidently. "I don't usually freeze up like that."

Now Pepper actually does roll her eyes as she huffs out a nearly humorless laugh. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?" she asks, actually minimally charmed by Tony's attempt at reassurance, or something. 

"No. I mean, yeah? I don't know. I guess." Tony shrugs, and Pepper feels her throat start to run dry again as his eyes meet hers over the rim of his glass as he takes another draw of scotch. "What I _meant_ , is that I don't freeze like a deer caught in headlights because usually I'm the one doing the kissing."

 _Oh, God. Just quit while you're ahead, Tony_. Pepper tilts her head in blatant disbelief, setting her glass on the flat balcony ledge as she turns a disapproving glance onto the man beside her. "You really expect me to believe that no woman has ever tried to kiss you before?" she deadpans. "Or are you choosing to forget the more unglamorous parts of the past ten years I've worked for you?"

"Oh. No. No selective memory in this joint," Tony chuckles, "you know better than I do how many women can't keep their hands off me." Well, Pepper _thought_ the conversation may have been going better. She shakes her head a little and looks out over the city again, and all she hears from Tony's end is a clink as he too sets his glass on the ledge. "It's just that none of those women are like you."

The comment catches her off guard, and for a second Pepper questions if she actually heard him right. Sure, she's heard similar sentiments before— _you're all I have, you're the most capable person I've ever met, I have you for the other eight_. She knows. She _knows_ that she's not Tony's definition of ordinary, even if she completely embodies her own view of the word. She's learned to accept and even expect all of that, but she certainly isn't expecting the look on his face when she finally turns her gaze onto him. 

Tony's lips are curled at the corners, but before she can really get the chance to examine how the curve of his mouth is anything but smug and the way his eyes just seem to see right through her thick exterior, his lips are warm and soft and hard against hers all at the same time, and she can barely breathe but she doesn't want to, anyway. 

Kissing Tony Stark isn't at all how Pepper had imagined it. She hates to admit that she actually _has_ imagined it, but all of her internal embarrassment on the matter melts away when she finally allows herself to lean back into him and let the contact escalate. One of his hands is hot where it's resting against the bare skin of her back, and the other sends shivers down the back of her neck where it's tangled in her hair, but between all of that Pepper is struck by just how _gentle_ he is. He doesn't edge the embrace into anything more than it should be, but it's still all heat and passion and so fucking _right_ ; and as he traces her lips with his tongue, Pepper realizes that even though kissing Tony is new, it still feels like home. 

Eventually his lips do leave hers, and Pepper can't help the quiet noise that falls out of her when they do. He's still close enough that they're breathing in each other's air, and Pepper is fully prepared to dive back in and make this moment longer, make it last, make it _more_ before Tony's next six words make her knees wobble. 

"Will that be all, Miss Potts?"

Pepper opens her eyes, finds the devious little grin on Tony's mouth, and counters it with one of her own as she traces his bottom lip with her thumb. 

"No."


End file.
